Bernstein's research is in computational commutative algebra, computational number theory, cryptography, and computer security.

He is the author of "qmail"—a freely distributed, secure Internet mail-transfer agent used by many of the largest mail-handling sites on the Internet. Bernstein has made news in recent years as the plaintiff in a closely watched, ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. government, challenging its regulation of encryption technology and research. Bernstein's work has important applications to secure and efficient cryptography, as well as many other areas of applied mathematics.

Stephanov's research focuses on studying the physics of matter placed under extreme conditions.

"My goals are to advance our understanding of matter at densities so high that the physics is governed by strong interaction forces of the kind that, for example, hold protons and neutrons together," said Stephanov. "Such extreme conditions are believed to have prevailed during the first moments of our universe. Today, such conditions are being recreated by physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory using RHIC—the world's largest heavy ion collider."

The Sloan Research Fellowships were established in 1955. Twenty-six of the recipients have gone on to win Nobel prizes. Bernstein's and Stephanov's awards bring to fourteen the number of past or present UIC faculty members who have been named Sloan Research Fellowship winners.